Lament for the Assassin
by dantesdarkqueen
Summary: A summary of an assassin's fall, and the sorrow of those who feel he deserves better than this shadowy hell. Now a series of poems. Poem 2: He had through he was the one in control. He once craved power. Now all he wants is freedom.
1. Lament for the Assassin

**Summary: **A poem I wrote while waiting for finals to begin. A summary of an assassin's fall, and the sorrow of those who feel he deserves better than this shadowy hell.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own shit.

**Queen's Quornor: **I've never actually done a poem on here before. I mean, I've written fanfic poems before, but I've never posted them. So I think I'll post this one I wrote about Zato. _For _Zato, really. He's one of my favorite characters, and I always felt that he never deserved the fate he received. Nobody deserves something like that. So while waiting for my final exam to start, bored out of my skull and tired of studying, I began scribbling down a few thoughts that I always have when I see certain pictures of Zato, especially the one you get when you beat GGX with him. That one always breaks my heart.

Lament for the Assassin

Bearer of darkness,  
Captive of shadow.  
Was this truly your wish?  
Was this what you were promised?

For power you sold yourself.  
For darkness you gave your sight.  
You expected control of the shadows,  
but received only hell.

To the top you rose,  
Master of the Assassins.  
But the higher you climbed,  
the lesser you became.

Respected and feared,  
loved and hated.  
Betrayed by the woman you loved,  
consumned by the darkness within.

Too much control relinquished,  
too little strength remained.  
Darkness took hold of the flesh.  
You were lost to the void.

Prisoner of your own body,  
captive and helpless.  
You were pursued by many,  
out of love and out of hate.

The woman found you first,  
the traitor that slew your heart.  
Golden tresses twisted and coiled;  
she broke your body, strangled your will.

"Finish me..." you commanded,  
and she obeyed for the last time.  
Rage finished her task,  
and released your soul from its cage.

The shadow holds sway now,  
desperate to live even as the body dies.  
It remains hunted though you are gone,  
hounded by vendettas life incurred.

Rage remains torn,  
unconvinced of her bloody victory.  
Cold and unfeeling, dead inside,  
she sees in you her own black future.

Your partner and subordinate  
follows close behind.  
Bound by love and loyalty,  
he seeks the revenge you were denied.

Still others stalk the shadow:  
ninja, noble, and knight.  
Vengeance, knowledge, and law.  
Even in death the chains remain.

But rest does not come easy,  
does it, Master of Assassins?  
You cannot sleep  
so long as the shadows lives on.

Good or evil, sinful or pure,  
this was a fate undeserved.  
Heaven or hell,  
you are owed your solace.

Rest well, Guildmaster Zato.  
Be at peace in death.  
Your torment shall be ended...  
no matter where your soul lies.


	2. Cry from the Dark

**Summary: **Now turned into a series of poems! He had thought that he was the one in control. Now he realizes that he was wrong. Once he craved power. Now all he wants is freedom.

**Disclaimer: **I wish I owned it. Then I'd have all the manga, drama cds, and books translated into English and brought over here to the States so we could share in the wider world and story of Guilty Gear too!

**Queen's Quornor: **I still want to get a better sense of Zato-1One's pre-Eddie character before I start on any fics directly involving him. But the Zato-muse just won't leave me alone. So I figured I'd keep him satisfied by writing something about him. In this case, it's poetry. Zato's one of my favorite characters, and I want to portray him accurately when I start the fic in question. As far as I'm concerned, our job as authors is to do our favorites justice when we write them. And the last thing I want to do is get him wrong. So for now, poetry it is. This was actually inspired by the scene you get prior to fighting Millia-Rage, and by a translation of one of the phrases Zato sometimes screams in that scene.

Cry from the Dark

_Free me from these dark shadows of hell.  
__Give me the release I crave!  
__A leader among the dark ones  
__trapped by the shadows within._

_It shows me things,  
__sights no man should behold.  
__I cannot see the world around me.  
__I cannot shut these visions out._

_My limbs move at the shadow's command,  
__my own desires become inconsequential.  
__A puppet bound by unbreakable strings?  
__Or merely a vessel, valuable only for what I hold?_

_Blood, death, destruction...  
__Chaos and darkness eternal.  
__A carpet of broken bodies beneath a blood-red sky.  
__Fire rains and erupts. Earth becomes Hell._

_Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!  
__I don't want to see this!  
__You have my body already;  
__stop tormenting what's left of my mind!_

_Why did I ever agree to this?  
__Why did I allow this thing inside me?  
__Yes, it helped me realize my ambitions.  
__But how was I supposed to know...?_

_I had thought my sight...  
__was the only sacrifice.  
__Now I have lost everything  
__save this dark corner of my mind._

_I was a ruler, a master of trained killers.  
__Now I am a slave, trapped in my own flesh.  
__The shadow controls everything.  
__I have no peace, no say in my actions._

_Release me! Save me!  
__Somebody rescue me from this prison!  
__Kill me or destroy the shadows, I don't care!  
__Just give me myself back again!_


End file.
